The monsters have risen, and you must protect the gate from the relentless horrors. Utilize eight weapons ranging from the trusty knife to the devastating nuke to annihilate the evil that has awakened.

With its unique weapons and varied enemies each with their own strengths and weaknesses, Monster Mayhem has a bit more to offer than most caste defense games.

Gameplay

Just like your typical defense game, you have one main objective, to defend! Monsters come from the right side of the screen in an attempt to bring down your gate. Depending on what monster you are facing, you must choose the appropriate weapon. Some monsters can only be hurt by specific weapons. While this sounds like a good idea, it becomes frustrating very quickly because it goes to the extreme where you absolutely cannot use that weapon for anything but that one monster, or you will not have enough ammo and lose.

Defeating monsters rewards you with gold and sometimes ammo or health. This gold can be used to purchase weapons, upgrades, and ammo in between levels. Each weapon has four upgrades; each one increases damage and ammo capacity.

Monster Mayhem has five worlds each consisting of five levels and a boss stage. Levels usually have between seven and twelve waves of monsters depending on the world. At the end of each level, there are special monsters that act as a "bonus round" of sorts. They scurry around the screen while you take shots at them for more gold and items. The boss stages range from a giant robot yeti to the devil himself. Boss battles are mostly "hit the target". A target will appear somewhere on the enemy, and you must shoot it before it can get an attack in. Defeating a boss allows you to continue on to the next world. Completing the game will reward you will Boss Rush, Endless, and Madness game modes.

Graphics & Sound

The art style is unique and consistent; all enemies are drawn nicely and are well animated.

The music seems to be average; nothing special, but still good. Sound effects can get annoying, more specifically enemies' death sounds. Unfortunately, if you disagree with the sound, your only other option is to turn it off completely; iPod music is disabled.

Conclusion

There was obviously effort put into the game, but it doesn't fell like there was enough. Monster Mayhem feels excruciatingly repetitive. Each world feels exactly the same and new enemies only seem to bring frustration instead of challenge. Half of the weapons seem completely useless. There is pretty much no need for the thunder attack or flamethrower; the toughest enemies are resistant, and the weaker enemies are best dealt with guns. All in all, it doesn't feel fun; it more so feels like a chore. Casual gamers may enjoy this, but those looking for a challenge are out of luck.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: 5 Consistent art style and great animations.Sound: 2 Sound effects can become annoying; no iPod Music.Controls: 5 A simple tap to shoot/throw and slash for the knife. Gameplay: 3 Feels too repetitive and frustrating.

Playing Hints and Tips:

? Upgrading the knife is a waste of money until the final boss; only a few enemies can hurt by knife, your gold can be better spent.? Buy and fully upgrade the machine gun immediately; it is possibly your greatest weapon.? After maxing the machine gun, focus on the shotgun. Stronger monsters are immune to weaker guns.? The thunder attack and flamethrower are mostly worthless.? Upgrading the gate is not necessary; gold is better spent on weapons.